Recap / Angel S01E07 "Bachelor Party"

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Doyle's past is revealed when his wife asks him to sign the divorce papers so she can marry into another demon family.

Tropes in this episode:

Affably Evil: The Ano-movic, mainly because they've assimilated into human society. Specifically Richard Straley—a chipper, suburban-dwelling restauranteur who just happens to be a shapeshifting demon.

Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Doyle's ex-wife Harriet prepares to marry into a family of apparently humanized, peaceful demons who nonetheless make, um, unusual wedding preparations. Harriet's prospective father-in-law reads from the to-do list: "First we greet the man of the hour. Then we drink. We bring out the food. Then we drink. Then comes the stripper, darts, and then we have the ritual eating of the first husband's brains, and then charades." The demon family, of course, objects to the charades.

Description Cut: Cordelia is being bored senseless by her date's tales of his financial wizardry. "I mean in November they were trading at 6 cents. So, you know what I did? I sold at 6 and 1/8 of a cent! 6 and 1/8. Can you imagine anything more exciting then that?" Cut to Doyle and Angel fighting a nest of vampires.

Dad: The accursed books tell us all very plainly that ingesting a priorly married prospective bride's former primary mate's fresh brains will insure a happy second marriage. This way, Richie can incorporate all the love you and Harry shared, making their union whole. It's an Ano-movic thing, don't ask.

Foot-Dragging Divorcee: Doyle's wife shows up with her new fiancé so that she can finalize their divorce. Doyle is naturally mopey, since the only reason she left him was because he found out he was half-demon. Except that it turns out the new guy is also a demon, forcing Doyle to confront his own personal problems.

Doyle finds a picture of Buffy hidden between the pages of the book Angel is reading.

Doyle laments that he and his ex-wife were too young to break things off amicably, instead fighting each other non-stop until one of them broke; in doing so, he inadvertently forecasts what will happen to Angel and Buffy later on.

Game Face: It's confirmed that showing your demon face makes you stronger, but Doyle refuses to do so (when he finally does so, Cordy attacks him with a silver tray).

Half Truth: Richard Straley neglects to tell Doyle that his 'consent' to their marriage meant agreeing to have his brains eaten.

Harry: I'm only going to ask you this once, Richard, and I expect a straight answer: were you or were you not intending to eat my ex-husband's brains? Richard:[sheepishly] In a way. Harry: And when were you planning on telling me? Richard: I thought maybe I wouldn't have to. Harry: You were going to start out our life together with deceit? Doyle:[to Angel] Sort of missing the point, isn't she?

Hidden Depths: Doyle worked as a teacher and a volunteer in a soup kitchen.

Nasty Party: One in which ritual brain-eating is slotted in right between darts and charades.

Oops! I Forgot I Was Married: Doyle never mentioned his prior not-yet-ended marriage (or teaching job) to his coworkers. Whether he would have brought it up to Cordy had their relationship progressed as he wished is an open question.

Political Correctness Gone Mad: When Harrie calls out Richard's family for attempting to cannibalize Doyle's brain, his siblings indignantly shout "Racist!" She then calls them out on the hypocrisy of picking and choosing the 'sacred rituals' they want to keep doing and then acting pious when called on it.

Stab the Salad: Angel is spying on Doyle's ex-wife's fiance and sees him taking on a demon aspect and drawing out a knife. One Super Window Jump later, it's revealed that she knew about him being a (harmless) demon, and that the knife was to cut the strings on a parcel.

Stages of Monster Grief: Doyle coped poorly with the revelation of his demon side, and his marriage to Harriet soon crumbled. However, the point is made that is demonic heritage probably wasn't the only reason their marriage broke up. Upon learning about demons, Harriet found the thought of studying an entirely new set of cultures and pastimes intriguing, whereas Doyle just wanted to pretend his demonic side didn't exist.

Twerp Sweating: Angel giving the third degree to Pierce, a day trader and Cordelia's date.

You Look Familiar: Richard is played by Carlos Jacott, who previously appeared as Ken in the Buffy episode "Anne." A rare Buffyverse example in that both characters are mostly seen without demon makeup, making it a pretty clear case of Most Definitely Not a Villain. Jacott would later appear in the pilot of Firefly as Lawrence Dobson, making him one of Joss's "hat-tricks".

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